Watson given US Open exemption

Tom Watson, regarded by many as the hero of Turnberry in 2009 despite failing to win the British Open, has received an exemption invitation to this year’s US Open at Pebble Beach, California following another bout of heroics at Augusta. After vying for the early lead in the US Masters, Watson achieved a top-20 finish as he once again turned back the clock.

The invite – the first given by the USGA since they awarded one to Nick Price in 2005 – will see Watson become the only player to have competed in every US Open held at Pebble Beach since it first visited the course back in 1972.

This year, the course will stage its fifth US Open between June 17th-20th. The last time the major was played at Pebble Beach, in 2000, Tiger Woods achieved a record 15 shot winning margin, and was the only player to break par for the tournament.

“I am deeply grateful to the USGA for extending me the invitation to play in the US Open at one of my favorite golf courses in the world,” Watson said. “Some of my life’s favorite times have been spent near Stillwater Cove. I know there will be more this coming June.”

Watson has already won a US Open at Pebble Beach, in 1982, where he holed a chip from behind the 17th green enroute to a two-shot victory over Jack Nicklaus. Later in the same year, Watson also won the Open Championship at Royal Troon, beating Peter Oosterhuis and Nick Price by one stroke.

Watson will be returning to the US Open for the first time since 2003, where he was handed an invitation to compete in the tournament at Olympia Fields. There he shared the lead after the first round following a round of 65 before eventually finishing in a tie for 28th place.

Watson has received four previous exemptions for major championships and has finished in the top-30 in each of the tournaments where he has played under an exemption. And given his form in recent majors, who would argue against Watson maintaining that streak?

Couples wins again on Champions Tour

Fred Couples made it two successive wins on the Champions Tour after a six-under par 65 handed the former Ryder Cup player and captain a four-stroke victory in the Toshiba Classic.

In only his third start on the tour, Couples finished on 18-under par for a comfortable success at the Newport Beach Country Club to add to his ACE Group Classic he won two weeks previously. Couples also narrowly missed out in the season-opener when he finished second behind 2009 British Open runner up and eight-time former major winner Tom Watson. Couples also finished in a tie for 14th place in the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale last weekend.

Ronnie Black carded a round of 65 to finish in second place, while Tom Lehman and Chien Soon Lu both scored 69s to tie for third place at 12 under. Tom Watson (62) and Loren Roberts (68) followed at 11 under par.

Couples hasn’t had a score higher than 68 and is 56-under par over the 162 Champions Tour holes he has played to date. HIs win saw him earn $255,000 to take his tour earnings to $691,000.

Tom Watson matched his best round on the Champions Tour and also tied Hale Irwin’s 1998 mark for the best final round in the event. Watson’s round included an eagle and three birdies in his first four holes. Watson dropped a stroke on the 9th but then birdied five of the last nine holes. He settled for a birdie on the par-5 18th after missing a 20-foot eagle putt.

Watson holds off Couples to win Champions Tour event

Tom Watson held off Champions Tour debutant Fred Couples to win the tour’s opening event, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship to become the 13th-oldest player to win on the Tour.

Watson, 60, had previously partnered Jack Nicklaus to win the Champions Skins tournament at Kaanapali and carded birdies on each of the closing two holes to fend off Couples, closing with a seven-under par round of 65 to finish on 22-under par. For Watson, it was his thirteenth Champions Tour win and the first time in 34 career starts he had won in Hawaii on either the PGA Tour or the Champions Tour.

Couples closed with a bogey-free round of 64 and saw a 15-foot birdie putt slip past the whole which would have put him and Watson enter a play-off but the golf legend, who came so close to a fairy-tale Open Championship win at Turnberry perhaps didn’t fancy additional holes against his younger opponent and sank his putt from just four feet following a remarkable save from the rough.

In a see-saw final nine holes Couples took his first lead by eagling the 566-yard 10th to reach 18 under by playing an iron from the first cut of rough to set up his 6-foot putt before Watson tied him on the 11th hole with a birdie from twenty feet. Couples again took the lead over Watson at the sixteenth hole with a birdie before Watson’s birdie on the seventeenth saw him tie once again with Couples before the last hole birdie which secured the win.

Watson & Nicklaus skin rivals

The Wendy’s Championship Skins Game went the way of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson as they held of the defending champions, Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw. Nicklaus, who turns 70 on Thursday made two birdies and won three skins over the back nine to collect £130,000.

The pair finished with a total of ten skins and amassed $350,000 for their second victory in the event in four years, after collecting seven skins and $220,000 on the first day’s play.

The skins game, held on the Hawaiian island of Maui, saw Crenshaw and Zoeller collect five skins to finish in second place and collect $230,000. The duo were bidding to become the first team to win the event back-to-back following last year’s record $530,000 haul.

The event, which plays an alternate-shot format saw the Champions Tour debut of Fred Couples, and he and playing parter Nick Price sank a four-foot birdie on the play-off hole with two skins and $150,000 on the line to finish in third place with $190,000.

Gary Player and Loren Roberts failed to collect a skin and were blanked out.

Watson to play in Dubai Desert Classic

Veteran American player, Tom Watson, has announced he will compete in the Dubai Desert Classic when the event kicks off on February 4th.

The tournament, which will be held over the Maljis course at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, will also see young Irishman Rory McIlroy aim to defend the title he won last year.

60-year old Watson – an eight-time major championship winner – will be among a high class field for the prestigious event and will be aiming to produce the kind of form which saw him narrowly miss out on a fairytale British Open triumph at Turnberry where he had a putt on the 72nd hole to win and become the oldest ever winner of a major tournament.

“I am anxious to visit Dubai since I have heard so many good things about it,” Watson said. “Additionally, I am looking forward to playing in a city that seems to be making good progress as a golfing destination, possibly due in part to the success of the Dubai Desert Classic.”

The Dubai Desert Classic is the first high profile event on the 2010 European Tour schedule and the tournament has a history of attracting the best in the world. In 2009, Rory McIlroy took the title following a final round 70 to capture his maiden tour victory.

Watson believes he will be no back number in Dubai, and hopes to usurp Mark O’Meara as the oldest winner of the tournament. O’Meara won the tournament in 2004, aged 47.

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